Closer to drugs court

Barbados is on the verge of having its first drug treatment court.
Yesterday, Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite signed an agreement with the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), an agency of the Organization of American States (OAS), to implement a pilot Drug Treatment Court Project to promote judicially supervised treatment alternatives to incarceration for drug-dependent offenders.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed by the Attorney General and acting assistant executive secretary of CICAD, Angela Crowdy.
Brathwaite said he travelled overseas and witnessed drug treatment courts in operation and was convinced that not every individual who came into contact with the criminal justice system as a result of drugs needed to be sent to prison to receive intervention. (AH)